The “Raul Guidobaldi Stadium”in Rieti, boasting eight world records from 1979 up to the present day, runs top among all the Italian stadiums, so much that The British champion Steve Cram called it the Mecca of records. It owes its name to the former President of the Provincial Coni (Comitato Olimpico Nazionale), Raul Guidobaldi , who strongly supported the athletics discipline in Rieti and its territory. Since 1971, the Stadium has been hosting the world-famous International Meeting “Città di Rieti”, seeing eight international and twenty-seven Italian records have been. Sincev2013, the “European Junior Championships”, a continental event that involves almost 1000 athletes from all over Europe, is also held here.
- 1979 – Pietro Mennea (Italia): 300 metri, 32″23
- 1982 – Maricica Puica (Romania): miglio, 4’17″44
- 1983 – Steve Ovett (Great Britain): 1500 metri, 3’30″77
- 1992 – Noureddine Morceli (Algeria): 1500 metri, 3’28″86
- 1993 – Noureddine Morceli (Algeria): miglio, 3’44″39
- 1996 – Daniel Komen (Kenya): 3000 metri, 7’20″67
- 1997 – Noah Ngeny (Kenya): 1000 metri, 2’11″96
- 2007 – Asafa Powell (Giamaica): 100 metri, 9″74
- 2018 – David Lekuta Rudisha (Kenya): 800 metri, 1’41″01
Pietro Mennea, the first Italian athlete to conquer the record at the Rieti Stadium – Img by stadioguidobaldi.it